By Samuel Mattison
Alabama Political Reporter
While Republicans celebrate their first significant legislative achievement under President Donald Trump, some groups in Alabama are lamenting the passage of the Senate’s tax plan.
The tax plan passed the Senate late Friday night and it is the first major tax reform in the U.S. since 1996.
Arise Citizens’ Policy Project, a group that advocates for low-income families, released a statement blasting the passage as “a windfall for the wealthy at the expense of everyday families.”
“The U.S. Senate tax plan is a huge giveaway to wealthy households and big corporations, and working families across Alabama and across the country will pay the price for it,” Arise Policy Director Jim Carnes said in a statement. “Tens of millions of Americans at low and middle incomes will face tax increases, while the top 1 percent will get enormous tax breaks that would make them even richer.”
The Senate’s tax plan lowers the corporate tax rate to 20 percent and will eliminate tax deductions for state and local breaks to individual filers.
Another portion that Arise argues against is the plan to cut the mandate to purchase insurance.
“The Senate plan will leave 13 million more Americans without health insurance in exchange for even larger corporate tax cuts,” Carnes continued.
The Congressional Budget Office published a report that the plan would leave the U.S. with a $1.4 Trillion deficit by 2027 without economic growth.
Trump, who campaigned on tax reform, said the plan will reinvigorate the economy as it causes businesses to reinvest their money in the form of new jobs.
On Friday, the president seemed pleased with the passage tweeting a thank you to lawmakers for passing the bill. Trump said he expects to sign the new bill into legislation before Christmas.
But before the bill lands on his desk, it will need to be negotiated between the U.S. House and Senate to reconcile differences in the specifics of their bills.
The bill was almost not voted on with leaders being concerned that support wouold fail to meet the number of votes for passage. Last minute, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., gave his blessing to the bill and the Senate continued with the vote.
Alabama Sens. Luther Strange and Richard Shelby both supported the measure. In the House, all but Terri Sewell, D-Selma, supported the House version of the tax reform.
The legislative victory comes after the GOP’s push for the failed repeal of the Affordable Care Act in the summer with McCain being the deciding vote to axe the proposal.
